http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-city-fire-department-cant-afford-to-serve-george-mason-university/2012/05/01/gIQATGtBxT_story.html?tid=sm_btn_fb
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I'm ain't not too smart so plz to help me understand how cutting 1 person a.) saves $212,000 and b.) cuts down on overtime? Wouldn't cutting staff increase overtime costs since we can assume the amount of work that needs doing will remain constant at least?

Volunteers will offset the overtime. Getting a free firefighter to ride in the bucket saves the city a ton of dough every year.

The amount of revenue generated by City of Fairfax police off GMU students should offset this. The right hand out reaching for a handout while the left hand has a fistful of cash...

It's the county taxpayers who also help offset their costs. When you call 911 and a Fairfax County EMS responds, once the insurance company pays their portion Fairfax County waives the remainder of the fee..NOT THE CASE WITH FAIRFAX CITY...They respond to EMS calls in Fairfax area and send you a bill for the remaining balance that the insurance doesn't cover.
As a county resident who called 911 for an emergency I was shocked to see they balance billed me $500 after the insurance paid up over 1/2 of the fee. They charges are over inflated compared to Fairfax County charges for the same EMS service.
If the City is going to respond to 911 calls in Fairfax County then they need to have the same billing rules. County residents don't call Fairfax City when it's out of their jurisdiction.
I have always disliked Fairfax City police as they are ticket happy, but now have less respect for their EMS too.

@Johnny Galt - $212,000 is the cost of three firefighters. By reducing the staffing on the truck by one person, spread across three shifts equals three firefighters positions being eliminated.

Sadly the article quotes Dan Schmidt from the County's Fire Department who is uneducated. Fairfax units respond there on a regular basis when City units aren't available. Yes, it is in the City's first due but that doesn't mean County units don't respond in there with City units all the time.

Since GMU is a state institution, shouldn't the state be paying the city of Fairfax something for these types of services? It would make sense since they can't get local property taxes from GMU and it's a big chunk of land with lots of people on it. This is what the feds due with the "impact" funding of schools (since military bases don't pay local property taxes). The feds kick in and send some money to the local schools that are impacted. Fairfax City cannot be expected to pay for this. NO wonder your ambulance fees are so high.

BS all around

@wumpus - it's gonna get interesting, that's for sure

Why doesn't Fairfax city charge GMU $500 for every fire alarm and $5,000 for every false alarm in a dorm? That should line their pockets a little better.